Sion opened his eyes, greeting the dim light filtering through the flaps. Yawning, Sion got up from his sleeping bag and did some stretches to psyche himself up for the day.
Wiping himself with a wet cloth that was sitting neatly inside his Archive, Sion noted that the cloth didn't over the course of night.
'So, my Archive stops time for anything inside. A good way to keep food.' Grinning to himself, Sion put on his shirt and got ready for the long trek ahead of him. 'At least not now. I don't need these two questioning… my spatial abilities.'
Heading out of the tent, he noticed Nicole up and early doing some stretches. Her clothes fitted her lithe figure as sweat dripped from her skin.
"Mornin' Bun." Sticking with the nickname he gave her last night until she said otherwise, Sion greeted the rabbit girl with a wave of his arm. "Keeping in shape, aren't ya?"
"Good morning, Sion." Nicole replied curtly as she began doing some squats. Averting his gaze, Sion looked at the tent where the mother-and-daughter duo slept in during the night.
"So, is your mother up yet?"
"Nope." Nicole grunted slightly as her knees bent at an angle. "She's a heavy sleeper. She'll wake up soon."
"Is that so?" Taking his gaze away from the tent, he continued to look around the campsite for anything out of the ordinary.
As Nicole continued her exercise and Sion kept on observing the land, the flap leading to Nicole's and Melanie's tent flew open, revealing a yawning brunette.
"Sorry for sleeping in." She apologized with teary eyes. Sion couldn't help but chuckle, seeing how comical it was. Nicole just shrugged at the sight. She was already used to her mother's antics during their trips at this point.
"We should hurry. No time to waste." Sion called out as Melanie nodded and Nicole finished her exercises. Entering her tent, Nicole began to undress and freshen up.
Sion moved to pack his tent, and Melanie woke herself up by splashing water on her face.
After packing up and Nicole leaving her tent fully clothed, the three of them helped each other to pack up said tent and began traversing the wasteland once more.
During their trek, the three decided to do some chatting to alleviate their boredom as their walk grew long. Talking about various topics, such as what other Sectors were like, the surviving landscape, or good spots to set camp in, the three never noticed a group of silhouettes on the horizon heading in their direction.
Sion noticed this first, thanks to his experience and his newly enhanced senses, and Nicole was the second.
Telling Melanie about the sight, she pursed her lips and readied the crossbow she had on her back.
The two groups grew closer every second, and since Radites had enhanced senses thanks to their mutation, Sion and Nicole realized that there wasn't much danger coming from the approaching group.
"Three children…" Sion inadvertently muttered out, and Melanie caught onto the meaning of his words.
"Should we help?" Nicole asked her mother, who was starting to furrow her brows as their legs continued to guide them across the barren wasteland.
"We'll see." Melanie held off on her decision until after they ascertained the group's intentions.
A few minutes of walking were spent in silence as the two groups neared each other, the group of five looking like they were fresh out of a warzone, while the group of three were wary of the former.
When they reached each other, the two groups stopped, looking at each other with varying degrees of wariness.
"It's best you turn back. The Sector up north has been raided and taken over." The leading man spoke in a desolate tone. "We're heading to the Beneburn Sector for refuge."
"Beneburn… Yeah, sorry to burst your bubble, pal, but Beneburn was razed to the ground just a few days ago." Sion's statement shocked the group of five, at least those who were old enough, into a stupor. "I was there when it happened. Barely got out with my life intact. You wouldn't want to head there as it is now."
Feeling pity for the group, Melanie decided to throw them a bone.
"Do you want to follow us?" Her words drew a raised eyebrow from Sion, who was warily watching the group of five.
For all they knew, the group was faking their claims and was waiting for the right moment to rob them blind when they weren't looking.
It happened before, and he wasn't averse to thinking it would happen again. What's worse, there were children here, and he wasn't naive enough to think children the age of their children wouldn't be doing shit.
Take it from him, who mostly stole during the early stages of his life to stay alive in this harsh environment.
Nicole, who was slightly skeptical about the whole ordeal, however, was leaning towards helping the group of crestfallen Wastelanders.
"A-are you sure? We have nothing to offer you." The man looked at Melanie with thinly disguised hope. Smiling, Melanie nodded and approached the group of five.
"Sure. After all, in these trying times, we have no one else but ourselves to lean on when things look rough." Melanie holstered her pistol and put her arm out. "And if yourself isn't enough, sometimes asking for help will do wonders."
The man skeptically looked at her hand, various emotions rampaging in his mind, before he shut off all negative outlooks and took the hand.
"Thanks. My name is Kevin. This is my family." The man, Kevin, gestured to the children and his wife, looking incredibly tired and hungry.
"Melanie." Nicole's mother and Kevin shook hands before separating. "Anyway, we should take a short rest. You look like you need it."
"…Yeah… I guess… I guess we do…" Kevin sighed before looking at a rundown shack that was sitting pretty underneath the brown skies.
While all of this happened, Sion was busy looking at the holographic screen that appeared in front of his eyes.
[Quest Generated!]
[Quest: A Family of Five]
[Objective: Escort/Kill/Enslave the family.]